


this line bisects

by adspexi



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: F/M, Getting Together, M/M, Reluctantly-respectful-vassals-to-lovers, poor costis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21898756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adspexi/pseuds/adspexi
Summary: The rumors around Costis' status as a royal favorite haven't quieted down. The king doesn't seem to mind.
Relationships: Attolia | Irene/Eugenides, Eugenides/Costis Ormentiedes
Comments: 7
Kudos: 81
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	this line bisects

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jediseagull](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jediseagull/gifts).



“The king is planning something,” Costis said, flopping down next to Aris and making a grabbing motion for Aris’ wine.

“Is he really?” Aris said. “You know, you didn’t get this from me, but I heard the sun rose this morning.”

“What?”

Aris tossed the wine sack at Costis’ head. “Since it seems we’re stating the obvious.”

“No, I mean. He’s planning something to do with me.”

“I am shocked. Truly. It’s not like you only just spent months at his beck and call or anything.”

“You’re not getting it,” Costis said, and took a swig from the wine sack. “I’m not pet lieutenant on the schedule anymore, and he’s as good as told me he’s sending me away to do some kind of mission eventually.”

“So enjoy the time you have, before you need to nearly die for him again. Take a breather, get a full night of sleep for once.”

Aris really did have a different life philosophy than him. “That’s letting him win,” Costis said.

“What.”

“The king’s favorite pastime is watching me flail and occasionally scooping me out of it once I’ve been sufficiently flustered. He is waiting until I let my guard down, and when I finally think my life is back to normal, he’ll send me out with orders to steal Hephestia’s lightning bolts or assassinate the Mede Emperor.”

“So if you know it’s coming,” Aris said, as slowly as if he were speaking to a child, “and you can’t do anything about it, then why not just not worry about it?”

“Because that’s what he wants me to think.”

Aris took his wine back. “If you want to be miserable about it then go be miserable sober.”

* * *

Aris wasn’t wrong, exactly. It would have been much easier for Costis to go through that week enjoying his freedom from the king’s beck and call, the lack of trade delegations to sit in on and waspish looks from the king’s attendants. But it didn’t feel like a reprieve.

He could feel the king’s attention on him somehow: a tangible weight, whether or not the man ever crossed his path. Costis kept passing people in corridors and feeling others’ eyes on him as if he were… well. Not a courtier, but someone capable of being included in a plot, or maybe even carrying one out, rather than the hapless guard you looped in as means to an end.

He didn’t think the change suited him.

The summons he’d been half-expecting and half vaguely dreading came eventually. Someone whose face he knew from training but whose name he couldn’t remember came up to him at the end of a shift. “King wants to see you tomorrow night,” he said. “Just you. Be discreet when you get in, don’t tell anyone he called for you, yeah?”

“Did he say why?” Costis asked.

The guard shrugged. “It’s the king,” he said, clearly assuming Eugenides’ madcap reasons wouldn’t make sense to lowly commoners like them even if he deigned to give them.

* * *

“Tell me, Costis,” the king said, producing a distinct air of intense attention without getting up from his bed. “What do you think of my queen?”

Costis swallowed. There had been rumors among the Guard of Attolia’s threatened punishments, should the king ever stray from her, for both him and whoever he was fool enough to philander with. There were no equivalent rumors of the king threatening Attolia’s suitors. Attolia, popular opinion had it, would be just fine handling them on her own. Perhaps even more effective than the king would be.

Looking at Eugenides lounging on the bed, Costis wasn’t so sure of that.

“I am— devoted, my king,” he managed. “The Guard was sworn to her originally, as you know, and though I, we, are equally loyal to you as well—”

The king waved a hand. “Forgive me. The fault is mine; I shouldn’t have expected you to be able to articulate your personal loyalties, let alone on such short notice.”

“Advance notice would hardly have helped.”

The king smiled fractionally, and Costis found he could breathe again. “I suppose it wouldn’t, with your track record, would it? I just needed to… confirm something, I suppose.”

“For what purpose?”

“Do you not trust your sovereign, Costis?”

He thought about it. One one hand, he’d pledged himself to the man’s service and god for so long as he lived. On the other hand, the man was still Eugenides. “With my life,” he said, eventually.

“But not your dignity or your pocketbook, I take it.” Costis fidgeted. The king’s grin widened. “A sound decision, really. One shared by the vast majority of Eddis, not that they’d appreciate being reminded of it. But I didn’t ask you here to needle you without cause.”

“My king,” Costis said neutrally. He always had some cause, and being imposed upon for a good reason wouldn’t make it any less onerous, or potentially fatal if things should come to that point.

“The fact of the matter is that the court still thinks you’re a favorite. I can’t just return you to the Guard— we’ve seen how well that works— and at the moment, I can’t send you safely out of the reach of the court.”

“So what can you do?” Costis asked.

The king was already looking at him, but his focus intensified. It felt like Costis was one of the biological specimens he’d heard Sounis’s magus collected. Perhaps an interesting moth, pinned in place for inspection.

“The rumors will be believed regardless of their truth, and you will be in danger from those who consider you a royal favorite whether or not you actually have my ear.” The king lowered his gaze, uncharacteristically, to pick at an invisible thread on the hem of his sleeve. “So you might as well get the benefits of such a position.”

“My king, I don’t understand.”

“I’ve discussed it with the queen, Costis. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about what she’d do to any mistress I took, but in this case she doesn’t feel the term applies.”

“So you’re saying…”

“You could, in fact, become a royal favorite. If you’re willing to have me.”

And that was the thing about Eugenides. He was maddening, certainly, and prone to taking risks as if he were still the Thief rather than the ruler of three kingdoms. Whenever Costis hung around him, he ended up having to talk him down from some ledge or another.

But if the king asked, Costis was beginning to realize, he’d climb right up and jump with him. 

**Author's Note:**

> yes the title is from [ The Math Of Love Triangles, ](https://youtu.be/Ck-UhvbCDAk?t=88) no I'm not sorry.


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